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Black Cab announce 明 (Akira) + East Coast album tour + share 2 tracks

Black Cab have announced 明(Akira) to be released on Friday 4 August via Interstate40. Alongside an East Coast album tour, they have shared two tracks from the album. Listen to ‘Prelude‘ and ‘Closing Titles‘ below.

The album was inspired by classic Japanese sci-fi anime movies such as Akira, Ghost In the Shell, the Evangelion series and more. A blend of dark electronica, massed taiko drums and found sounds, the album is an alternative soundtrack to an anime sci-fi classic that is yet to be created.

Written and recorded by Black Cab, the album was mixed and mastered by Simon Polinski. For the artwork, the band commissioned UK anime illustrator Mike Anderson to create some fictional anime cells for the front and back covers, with Luke Fraser completing overall album design.

Black Cab will tour the album playing select launches in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney this August. Both Melbourne and Brisbane shows will feature live Taikos. Find further tour details below.

Earlier this year singer/songwriter Sally Seltmann released her stunning single ’Dancing In The Darkness‘, which featured on the ABC TV show The Letdown. Today, she has premiered a short film for the single via

To celebrate, Sally will be touring this October, playing solo shows in both Sydney and Melbourne. Supporting her across the tour will be R.W. Grace and Bree van Reyk. Full tour details and ticket links can be found below.

The short film features Sally performing the single in Portland, Oregon for music organisation Piano Push Play who refurbish used pianos and leave them in public spaces across Portland.

Sally says of the film:

“Piano Push Play contacted me about six months ago and asked if I’d like to come to Portland and be filmed playing a song on the rooftop of Revolution Hall, an old high school which now operates as a well known live music venue. I thought this sounded like a really special project to be a part of, so I said yes!

I chose to play my new single ‘Dancing In The Darkness’, a song I wrote and recorded with my husband Darren Seltmann for the ABC TV show The Letdown. It was a windy day, but director Madison Rowley did a wonderful job!”

This year Face the Music is only hosting speakers who’ll boldly go where no panel has gone before. We said last time this wasn’t gonna be your regular rodeo. The names in our first speaker’s announcement aren’t just honest observers of the industry in which they work, they’re at the vanguard of it, pushing forward into uncharted territory. They are:

Anthony Fantano, the Internet’s busiest music nerd otherwise known as The Needle Drop. His YouTube reviews championing unheard-of records and challenging the established canon have earned him tens of millions of views, making him arguably the most influential music critic on the planet.

Andrew Jervis, who you might have heard hosting the popular Bandcamp Weekly podcast, but he does so much more. Jervis bought 15 years of experience in A&R to Bandcamp where he now does label and artist outreach – in other words, the reason Bandcamp isn’t just your brother’s grunge demos. Bandcamp now hosts some of the world’s most beloved labels, like Sub Pop, Epitaph, Merge, Mexican Summer – even Milk! Records – and has become a crucial backbone in the careers of emerging and established artists alike.

Ricki Askin, Head of Music Licensing & Archival at VICE Media. All those songs you hear in the background of VICE’s shows? Askin helped get them there. From the Oprah Winfrey Network to MTV to VICE, Askin’s had one hell of a life – ask her about the Snoop Dogg movie she worked on.

Zan Rowe, legendary Australian radio icon, taking triple j listeners into their mornings every weekday for the past eight years. She’s seen it and heard it all as one of the local industry’s most distinct figures.

Kim Ambrosius, Roskilde’s booker-at-large, always on the prowl for the next band to launch at Denmark’s greatest music festival. When she’s not schmoozing with the Next Big Thing, this great Dane is assembling killer mixtapes for the blog Lappland. And yes, she has met Lars von Trier.

And Robert Forster, the Go-Betweens legend whose work over the past 40 years both in bands and solo has moved nations and inspired countless artists. Forster is Australia’s preeminent songsman, and with his latest album, he’s proving that incisive songwriting has no use-by date.

Co-programmers Ashley Sambrooks and Zac Abroms, the brains trust behind this year’s Face the Music program, had this to say:

“In 2016 we at Face The Music have instigated a raft of changes to the event format, content and brand with a view towards presenting a more innovative and forward thinking contemporary music summit with an increased focus on fostering interstate and international development, that’s still iconically Melbourne at its heart.”

November 17 and 18. Put it in your diaries. And when you’re done absorbing all that knowledge, get ready for GIGS! GIGS! GIGS! to be held at the Melbourne Music Week Hub! ‘cos this is the inaugural year of live music as part of Face the Music. Featuring some of the most beloved (and some of the yet unknown) talent in Aussie music, from some of the most respected (and some of the soon-to-be worshipped) labels in the country, these showcases will bring your already-faves into contact with your next great obsessions. Make room in your playlists now.

There is still so much left to reveal. This is just to whet your appetite. Now talk amongst yourselves and stay tuned. While you still have the chance, face the music and dance.

The John Steel Singers have today released their highly anticipated album Midnight At The Plutonium via Plutonium Records / Create Control. To celebrate the release, the Brisbanites will be hitting the road this August and September. Catch the band in Toowoomba, Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Supporting John Steel Singers across the national tour will be Melbourne’s Alex Lahey. Tickets on sale now. Full tour details and links are below.

Midnight At The Plutonium is a new direction in sound for the beloved Brisbane band who for the past 2 years have been exploring more 70′s funk & soul inspired records, melding them with their signature sonic personality to form a new post yacht hybrid.

THE JOHN STEEL SINGERS
Midnight At The Plutonium tour
Supported by Alex Lahey

Put everything you thought you knew about Face the Music aside. This isn’t your regular rodeo. Like the weather of its hometown, Face the Music this year will defy all predictions and expectations, evolving just as quickly as the industry it caters to. Keeping the best parts – like the panels of industry experts featuring revolutionary artists, media top-guns, savvy entrepreneurs, writers, broadcasters, and philosophisers from all over the world – this year the summit sees new programmers in Ashley Sambrooks and Zac Abroms ready to put every dazzling corner of the industry on show.

The annual music summit is also moving dates and moving venues. Convening over November 17 and 18, Face the Music 2016 will be located within the soon-to-be-announced Melbourne Music Week Hub location situated in the city. Featuring more innovation, more business opportunities, and a greater international focus – ‘cos there’s never been a better time to show the rest of the world what we’ve got – this is going to be the most exciting Face the Music on record.

There’s another banner announcement: this year will be the inaugural year of live music as part of Face the Music. Featuring some of the most beloved (and some of the yet unknown) talent in Aussie music, from some of the most respected (and some of the soon-to-be worshipped) labels in the country, these showcases will bring your already-faves into contact with your next great obsessions. Make room in your playlists now.

Wanna know more? Be patient – all will be revealed very soon. This wouldn’t be the music industry without a little intrigue. Look to your inboxes mid August for a huge announcement.

This will be Face the Music as it’s never been before: thinking locally, acting globally. Whether you’re a label honcho, a media hack, a misunderstood artist or just an enthusiastic punter, Face the Music is taking all the flavours of the industry and putting them in a doggy bag for you to take home.

Get your early bird tickets now so you don’t miss out. While you still have the chance, face the music and dance.

Everyone’s favourite Brisbanites The John Steel Singers have today unveilled the details of their eagerly anticipated third studio album Midnight At The Plutonium. The record will be released on Friday 8 July via the band’s own record label Plutonium Records / Create Control.

The album is a new direction in sound for the beloved Brisbane band who for the past 2 years have been exploring more 70′s funk & soul inspired records, melding them with their signature sonic personality to form a new post yacht hybrid.

The first taste from the record ‘Weekend Lover’ with its classy sax solo, whirly synths, off-beat guitar clicks and catchy as hell falsetto chorus, which will stick in your head for days. Second single ‘Can You Feel The Future’ is an eight minute experimental epic which the band had been carefully tweaking for nearly 6 years. Midnight At The Plutonium is an album that’s been a while in the making but is well worth the wait. Get ready to hear the band’s most accomplished work to date.

Sally Seltmann has premiered her new single ‘Dancing In The Darkness‘ via Fashion Journal today. The track will be released digitally through Sally’s own label Three Of Hearts on April 26.

Sally says of the single: “Dancing In the Darkness is my new single, and it’s an introspective hero song about honoring the beauty in your own madness. I wrote and recorded the song with Darren Seltmann specifically for the pilot for the TV show The Letdown.”

‘Dancing in the Darkness’ will feature in the pilot for the ABC TV show The Letdown. Created by Sarah Scheller with Alison Bell, and produced by Giant Dwarf (The Chaser’s War on Everything), The Letdown will also feature a full score by Darren and Sally Seltmann.

Listen to ‘Dancing In The Darkness‘ below.

‘Dancing In The Darkness’ will be released digitally through Sally’s label Three Of Hearts, and is available for pre-order NOW on iTunes.

Due to demand, Black Cab have announced a second and final Melbourne show in celebration of brand new single ‘Uniforms’ to take place at Howler on Thursday May 5. These Melbourne shows will be the first since the group’s “night-winning” midnight performance at Golden Plains festival and follow Uniforms‘ strong play on triple j, Double J, RRR, FBi and RTR.

As a treat for all those who witnessed their set of “chaotic future bass and post-Warp slammers” at Golden Plains, Melbourne-based audio/visual duo and recent SXSW highlights friendships join will join the bill as very special guests. Tickets for this new show are available now.

Limited tickets remain for the previously announced Howler show on Friday May 6 w/ New War & Taipan Tiger Girls, and Sydney show on Saturday May 14 w/ MEZKO & Buzz Kull (DJ set).

Everyone’s favourite Brisbanites The John Steel Singers have today premiered a brand new single titled ‘Can You Feel The Future’ via Tone Deaf. The track comes from their forthcoming LP Midnight At The Plutonium set for release via the band’s own record label Plutonium Records / Create Control later this year.

To celebrate, the band will be embarking on an single tour this month playing The Blurst of Times in Brisbane on April 16, Brighton Up Bar in Sydney on April 21 and Curtin Bandroom in Melbourne on April 24. =

As the band explain, the 8 minute track has been years in the making:

“The song started as a loop, on my Digitech PDS 1002 back in 2010. We jammed over that for a bit. Then a couple of years later Scott remembered it and came up with the funky bassline. We then took those new funky guts to a Welsh barnhouse and continued to refine it with the help of Jonathan Boulet on percussion. Finally we brought it back to the Plutonium and after a million hours noodling then whittling then noodling then whittling we finally settled on the best song we’ve ever put on tape.” - Tim

“We were still adding things on the last night of album mixing. It was a 1000 piece puzzle that sat unfinished on a coffee table in our collective minds for months. Then we found some rogue pieces under the couch. Miro Mackie made us finish it before bed. It’s about 8 minutes but we love it like it is 2mins. Who says 8 minutes is too long for a single?… Everybody apparently?…dang”- Luke

Fresh from their Saturday witching hour appearance at Golden Plains, Melbourne’s Black Cab have released new single ‘Uniforms.’ In addition, the Cab will play launch shows at Melbourne’s Howler Bar on Friday 6 May and Sydney’s Newtown Social Club on Saturday 14 May.

The single ‘Uniforms’ which was premiered via Double J today was mixed and produced by Woody Annison and features guest programming and keyboards by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current). This is the Cab’s first new release since 2014′s critically acclaimed Games Of the XXI Olympiad double LP.

These launch shows will also be the Cab’s last headline shows for at least 6 months as they complete new material for a full length album in early 2017.